Silos & Smokestacks to Celebrate the Heritage Area’s Finest

Mar 5, 2013

Northeast Iowa – Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area (SSNHA) will be holding their 9th Annual Golden Silo Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, April 3, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. in the Black’s Building Sky Room, Waterloo, IA. Each year, SSNHA celebrates the best in heritage development by presenting Golden Silo Awards to individuals and organizations whose contributions demonstrate outstanding excellence in preserving and telling America’s agricultural story.

“American agriculture is a significant part of our country’s heritage. We’re excited to honor those who are actively preserving and sharing this important story,” commented Don Short, SSNHA President.

This year’s event will feature Scott Cawelti of Cedar Falls, IA, performing Landscape Iowa: Poems of James Hearst, Sung. Cawelti’s performance explores the life and poetry of Iowa farmer-poet James Hearst, having been Hearst’s student and colleague from 1968 through Hearst’s death in 1983. Cawelti will perform several of Hearst’s poems he has set to music, accompanying himself on acoustic steel-string guitar. Cawelti’s performance is free to the public, funded in part by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The luncheon portion of the event is $15 per person and features an Iowa pork inspired meal. Reservations for the luncheon are due by March 27. For more information or to register, call 319-234-4567 or click here. Thank you to Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Iowa Pork Producers Association for supporting this year’s luncheon.

Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. The Heritage Area covers 37 counties in the northeast quadrant of Iowa. Interstate 80 borders it on the south and Interstate 35 borders it on the west. Through a network of sites, programs and events, SSNHA interprets farm life, agribusiness and rural communities – past and present.